New credit card instead of a new loan?

New credit card instead of a new loan?

Hi everyone - I'm looking to do some improvements on my house and could use some advice. I want to do some landscaping in the front and back yards - nothing to crazy, but I need to add some nice bushes, flowers, etc. I've estimated that it'll cost $1500-2000 for what I want to do. At first I thought about getting a small personal loan for this. Would it be better to apply for a new credit card that has 0% for the first year? I would definitely be able to pay it off within that timeframe. If I can find a home improvement card (like Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.) that's 0% for 12 months or so, that would be ideal. I shop at those places all the time (ah, the joys of being a homeowner).

My concern is that if I apply for a new card, the CL won't be high enough to cover the project. If I apply for a card and am not happy with the CL, can I just not activate it to keep it from "officially" becoming my new credit card?

Are there other issues with this plan that I'm overlooking? Thanks for any help you can give.

And in case it helps, my current scores are 750 (TransUnion) and 757 (Equifax). I currently have 4 credit cards (3 visas and 1 Sears mastercard) with less than 3% utilization. I've also got a car loan (should be paid off in about a year) and obviously a mortgage. Let me know if more info is needed.

Re: New credit card instead of a new loan?

If you can pay it off in 12 months, you are going to be far better off going with credit card because you will never get 0% on a personal loan. Also with scores over 750 I would not be concerned about getting at least a 2k CL. Lowes is backed by GE and Home Depot is backed by citi.

I have Home Depot and it has been very good to me, with auto CLI everytime I carried any sort of balance.

I have seen other posts that unlike a lot of GE store cards, the Lowes card offers much higher limits and gives good cli

so really I would probably pick which one is closer or you like more to get the card.

Re: New credit card instead of a new loan?

I agree that the Lowe's card typically has higher CL's than other GEMB cards. (More expensive goodies require higher CL's!)

Many have found that HD gives out higher CL's than Lowe's, although this certainly isn't cast in stone.

I just prefer dealing with Citi than with GEMB, so I went with HD. They gave me $4K several years ago with an EQ in the 720 area, a year-old 30-day late, and a scattering of older lates. Very low util, and a personal income of around $70K. Of course, that was before the big meltdown.

If you don't get a high enough CL (with whichever card you get), I'd load up my shopping cart, or at least write out a list with prices, and go to the service desk in the store. Sometimes they can pry out a CLI for you there, especially when it's obvious that you're trying to do some serious shopping.

Re: New credit card instead of a new loan?

I just checked on whogaveme credit.com. Lot's of anecdotal evidence of people getting approved for $1K, calling and getting immediate CLI to $3K. A number of folks with much lower scores than you getting lines starting at $4K at Home Depot. You might want to go to the site and search by name for both Loews and HD. Make sure to start at the bottom and check the most recent apps.

Re: New credit card instead of a new loan?

DrJim wrote:

I just checked on whogaveme credit.com. Lot's of anecdotal evidence of people getting approved for $1K, calling and getting immediate CLI to $3K. A number of folks with much lower scores than you getting lines starting at $4K at Home Depot. You might want to go to the site and search by name for both Loews and HD. Make sure to start at the bottom and check the most recent apps.

Good luck!

And when you're researching, don't forget that many if not most of the people who post on WGMC-dot-com are listing FAKO's or the wrong credit bureaus. You have to take their info with a generous grain of salt. (With generous grains?)

Re: New credit card instead of a new loan?

Hey everyone - thanks for the feedback. I'm hoping to apply for one of the cards later this week (need to double check a few things first, and decide for sure which card I want). But could some clarify something? If you apply for a credit card (any card - not just Lowe's/Home Depot), and you decide you aren't happy with it (interest rate is too high, CL is too low, or whatever), are you committed to the card once you've applied? Or is it only once you've activated it?

Re: New credit card instead of a new loan?

gpie00001 wrote:

Hey everyone - thanks for the feedback. I'm hoping to apply for one of the cards later this week (need to double check a few things first, and decide for sure which card I want). But could some clarify something? If you apply for a credit card (any card - not just Lowe's/Home Depot), and you decide you aren't happy with it (interest rate is too high, CL is too low, or whatever), are you committed to the card once you've applied? Or is it only once you've activated it?

You can cancel it at any time.

But once you're approved, it's on your credit reports, whether you activate it or not, and whether you cancel it or not. So you'll have the new account ding and the inquiry ding, and if you close the card right away, it will (probably) still report for seven more years as a closed account.

Re: New credit card instead of a new loan?

haulingthescoreup wrote:

You can cancel it at any time.

But once you're approved, it's on your credit reports, whether you activate it or not, and whether you cancel it or not. So you'll have the new account ding and the inquiry ding, and if you close the card right away, it will (probably) still report for seven more years as a closed account.

Perfect - that's exactly the info I need. I was hoping that it would not be "official" until I activated the card - but I guess you take a risk of not being happy with the card's terms (interest rate & CL in particular) when you apply for it. Any-who, I'll keep everyone posted on the hunt for a new card.

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION: All FICO® Score products made available on myFICO.com include a FICO® Score 8, along with additional FICO® Score versions. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO® Score than the versions you receive from myFICO, or another type of credit score altogether. Learn more

FICO, myFICO, Score Watch, The score lenders use, and The Score That Matters are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fair Isaac Corporation. Equifax Credit Report is a trademark of Equifax, Inc. and its affiliated companies. Many factors affect your FICO Score and the interest rates you may receive. Fair Isaac is not a credit repair organization as defined under federal or state law, including the Credit Repair Organizations Act. Fair Isaac does not provide "credit repair" services or advice or assistance regarding "rebuilding" or "improving" your credit record, credit history or credit rating. FTC's website on credit.